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HON. W. H.%ADSWORTH, 

AT FLEMINGSBUKG, KENTUCKY, JUNE 13, 18G8. % 




Fellow-Citizkn-s : A small portion of the 

f;reat Union people of the United St^ites, we 
lave met here to-day to choose our lenders, 
declare oar faith, and give our reasons. The 
A\ity of speaking has devolved upon mc. 
However much I may have wished to avoid 
that duty I have not been able to do so, and 
;-m here today to discharge it to the best of 
my abiKty. 

Wo arc here toratify with great cheerful- 
ness, '■ shut up in mea,sureless content," the 
nomination of Grant and Colfax for Presi- 
dent and Vice President of the United States. 
To ratify their nomination with the resolu- 
tions upon which they stand, promulgated 
by the Convention that presented their 
names to the people. To ratify their nom- 
ination as a testimony in some small degree 
of our gratitude to them for their distin- 

f»i»hed services in the field and in the 
.<?gi.>flature, in the great struggle with rebel- 
lion. Wo are here to ratify their nomina- 
tion tipou their well known public lives and 
history, because the names ol Grant and 
Ck)lfex are familiar as household words- 
One, the General of all the armies of the 
Union; the other, the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, and for many years of 
his life, though still a young man, holding a 
seat in the national Legislature. 

I need not spcalc of General Grant to yon, 
my fellow-citizens, llie events in which 
he has been a conspicuous actor, and known 
throughout the world, are suroly known to 
all of you, placing him beyond the reach of 
feeble CAlura"y. Suffice it to say that com- 
ing up from the ranks of the people his 
whole life has been one of honesty, fidelity 
to fhity, and patriotism to our common 
conntn', signalized in the two wars — the war 
with Mexico and the great war just tcrmi- 
n.'H<»d. In t!ie providence of God it fell to 
his lot to play the foremost part in the ijip- 
presbion of the rebellion — excelling where 
all did well, leading the heroes to whom our 
gratitude is forever due. 

We ratily their nominations because of the 
iuture services we expect at the hand of these 
nominoea. We ratify their nontination, be- 
taase of the confidence we have in their hon- 
esty, their ability, and their courage. We 
ratily their nomination, because hitherto they 



I have always been successful, and the world 
demands success of its leaders. Merit, how- 
ever great, is always topped by success. 

A QCKSTIOV OK VITAL IMPORTAKCK TO KKN- 
I TCCKIANS. 

j The deeply interesting ipiestion for us to 
.answer is, how t'nion men of Kentucky arc 
j going to act in this contest? With refer- 
I ence, perhaps, to a larger portion of the 
j Union body at least, there can be no ques- 
I tion. Tlyjv have always been in the front 
j ofthe right wing of the Union j)arty through- . 
j out this whole contest. But if is an inter- 
I esting question with regard to another very 
I respectiiblc and influential body of Union 
men of this State to know what part they are 
going to take in this contest; where they 
will pitch their tent ; where th(>y will clioose 
their company for the future, because things 
have proceeded in our State politics to the 
point where we must decide between what 
they call the Democratic party and the Na- 
tional Union Ilepublican party. There arc 
many persons of Union sentiments who 
think it the duty ofthe Union people of the 
State to give their support to the Democratic 
party, as they call it here in this Common- 
wealth jif ours. 

The very first task I propose to m\:^elf is 
to examine irasons why any of us should do 
so ; and I propose to do tliis in a spirit oi 
candor and frankness, but with respect to- 
ward the gentlemen who difH-r with mc. and, 
1 trust, with respect to tliat party itselt". 

The Democratic party of tho United 
States governed this country for thirty years, 
almost without interruption. You are mf 
witnesses that thoy misgoverned it. You 
are my witnesses that they sftwed broadojist 
the seeds of the bloody harvest we reaped 
in the war just closed. You are my wit- 
nesses that this party, honored so beyond 
measure by a generous and confiding peo- 
ple, at last betrayed their trust, and broke 
thi.s people in pieces by cruel and bloody 
war. For many years prior to 18iJU, the 
controlling element of the party h.id been 
molding public sentiment, and shaping the 
policy of the Government, with a view to 
sef'es.sion and rebellion, crvling bo fata41y to 
Ifce people. 

\ 



IzL,7c> 



When at last a majority of the people of 
tke United States had got tired of being thus 
ruled, and elected to power a party opposed 
to the spread and i-ule of slavery, this same 
imperious power revolted against the only 
friend the institution had in the world — the 
Constitution of the United States. Giving 
lip the support of this Constitution, with the 
Supreme Court and a majority of the Con- 
gress to back it, the rulers and upholders of 
the Democratic party for a generation re- 
volted, drew the sword of civil war against 
the Union, the ideas and tendencies of the 
age, and the Father of men. For nearly 
thirty years the Democratic party had gov- 
erned us here inthe South with a rod of iron, 
'in the sole interest of slavery, with a view 
to secession. This party organized a Presi- 
dential . campaign in the interests of seces- 
sion and rebellion, with Breckinridge as 
leader, that Douglas might be defeated or 
Mr. Lincoln more surely elected, having long 
before declared that if he was elected they 
would revolt and dissolve our Union. They 
destroyed their party to precipitate the de- 
■struetioH of their country. They went into 
the rebellion upon the fact of Mr. Lincoln's 
election, and the Democrats of the North, 
spurned and abandonedby their rebel allies, 
lost all power and influence in the country. 

THE WAR AGAINST THE UNION. 

War broke out, and all right-minded peo- 
pie, under the lead of Lincoln and Douglas, 
Crittenden and Guthrie, rose up to meet this 
daring attack upon the Union and the free- 
dom and progress which it represented. The 
people everywhere rallied to the country's 
cause, and when 75,000 men were called for, 
above 300,000 came to the rescue. Now, at 
this time the Democratic party seemed to 
have been blotted from the political map. 
It had no existence till the anti-slavery 
policy of the Government was developed by 
the events of the war. 

The Democratic party seized this opportu- 
nity to organize, and many of us in Ken- 
tucky, alarmed for the result, gave it our 
symn.^thyj regarding the Democrats of the 
North then in arms against their late leaders 
of the South, and thus friends to the Union 
and the war against rebellion, as friends also 
to the Constitution. We came to their aid 
speedily in the border States, and in the 
election iu 18G2 they elected members from 
nearly all the disti-icts in some of the States, 
and came with a few votes of having the 
House of Representatives. At once the old 
leaders, with the old sympathies, champion- 
ed the party, and began to declare their op- 
position to the war, in many ways throwing 
their influence into the scale on the side of 
the enemy. Instead of supporting the Gov- 
ernment in the prosecution of the war, they 



pursued a policy evidently designed to stop 
and abandon it ; of course there were many 
exceptions, but I speak of what I believe to 
be the real power of the party. The next 
Congressional elections were disastrous. The 
Presidential election came on. 

They met in National Convention and 
nominated for President a worthy man, a 
soldier of .the Union, onceof great popular- 
ity, a gentleman always honoral'lc in my 
eyes — I mean George B. McClellan. He 
was compelled to repudiate the party plat- 
form, and declare that the war for the Union 
must never be abandoned. But w'e were de- 
feated. Notwithstanding such evident dis- 
gust by that party for the principles we cher- 
ished, still, with other portions of the Union 
people of the South, the Union Democracy 
of Kentucky gave its support to the Demo- 
cratic party North throughout the war. 

KENTUCKY REBELS AND THEIR NORTHERN 
ALLIES. 

The war terminated at last, owing to the 
valor of our soldiers and the genius of our 
commanders — In spite of all opposition, 
covert and open — in favor of the Union. 
Now, mark what followed, you that have 
any hope of comfort or honor In the Demo- 
cratic party. In Kentucky, men left the 
State and swore allegiance to aforeign, rebel 
power, but left their wives, sisters, daughters 
and property behind in our midst, under and 
to our protection ; and these men continual- 
ly Invited and brought war around our fire- 
sides and in the midst of their own families, 
plundered our fields and stables, massacred 
OUT Inhabitants and burned our towns ; at 
last, conquered in battle, they returned to 
the homes they had abandoned. The Union 
party in power in the State of Kentucky-, in 
a generous spirit, desirous of healing all the 
wounds of the body politic, and restoring a 
solid peace to our afflicted Commonwealth, 
forgave them all the penalties of the law, 
and restored to them the franchise. 

They were scarcely warm In their seat^ 
before that same Legislature was urged, by 
ambitious aspiraucs aiioug them, to call a 
State Convention. By a voice almost unan- 
imous it refused to do so, pronouncing In- 
stinctively against its jjolicy, for a reason 
they did not fully recognize at the time, but 
which must now be apparent, viz : In such 
a Conveu'inn, the sympathies of rebellion 
and those of Unionism would never harmon- 
iously interflow and fuse together. If called 
there must be a disintegration of the hetero- 
geneous elements that composed it. So the 
Convention was refused. Then these enfran- 
chised rebels and their sympathizers who 
staid at home and lent their aid as they safe- 
ly could, to divide the Union, called a State 
Convention, not of the Union Democratic 



party that had voted for McClellan, but call- 
ed a Democratic OonventioH proper of the 
men who wore fresh from the rebelliou, who 
had voted for Jefferson Davis, editor;?, ex- 
Congressmeu aud officers in the late rebel 
army, who had been for five years denounc- 
ing the Democratic party, while the Union 
men of Kentucky gave it their support, call- 
ing it very vile names indoed ; who had 
been dononnclng the Union and lighting it 
with fire and sword, and had declared if we 
would give them a sheef of blank paper on 
which to write their own terms, they would 
not lite with us again. These people culled 
a State Convention and made a nomination 
for clerk of the Court of Appeals, and coun- 
ty officers of pure unadulterated Democrats 
and opponents of the war. 

Now was the time to test the fidelity of our 
late Dcmocraiic allies North ; to test the 
sincerity of their sympathy with the Union 
men of the South, aud the cause which they 
loved. Wti were entitled to their symj^lhy 
and support in this contest with those who 
came fr'^sh and red from the criminal rebel- 
liou. Ilere was the crucial test which was 
tb prove whether tlic Democracy of the 
North was a Union jxirty and would support 
the Union Democratic party or the rebel 
Democratic party of Kentucky. 

You know the result. Wo were deserted. 
The Democrats of the North would not go 
forward, and taught by the war to something 
better than the resolutions of '1*8 and slavery, 
tliey gave up the Union and the future ; the.y 
embraced the past, and "-etunicd like a dog 
to his vomit. 1 hey entered the contest on the 
side "f those who had been most con.spicuou8 
in the ranks of the enemies to the Union, 
and threw overboard, without remorse of con- 
science, those Union men who had stood by 
them in the hour of their difficulties. 

The act signalized at once the inevitable 
sympathies of the Democratic party, North 
as well as South. The controlling power in 
that party through the war was opijosed to it. 
While many of them, 1 gratefully remember, 
proved their devotion to the country in the 
legislative forum and by going into the field; 
but the real, vital, energetic forces in the 
party gave its sympathy to the war against 
the Union, denied the right of the Govern- 
ment to put down the rebellion, acknowl- 
edgo<l the right of a State to secede, many 
denouncing the war as unholy ; the editor 
of their most popular newspaper, exceeding 
the license of^ the press and the bounds of 
decency, even justified the assassination of 
the President of the United States, tbe kind- 
est enemy that ever struck a foe and wept. 

In this first opportunity to show whether 
for the future they would build their party 
upon a Union basis, or whether they would 
]oek to rebel sympathizers in the South for 



support, they repudiated true Union men, 
and took up with their adversaries. 

It is a question, gentlemen, how far we 
who stood fur the Union, will ever find (or 
ourselves forgiveness and acceptance in a 
party controlled by o\ir adversaries. But 
such considerations as these are of minor 
importance. If by giving our support to the 
Democratic party wc could accomplish great 
public ends important to the welfare ol' the 
people ; to do this we should be ready to 
sacrifice all personal considerationt;. The 
service demanded of us by this Democratic 
party of Kentucky, is indeed onerous and 
bitter. We must silence our sympathies for 
the Union cause and the men who sustained 
it. We must forget that those who died in 
the great battles, died honorably, in a good 
cause, and against a bad one. As to the 
living, we must forget iheir services in the 
war and what is due to them, preferring those 
who fought for the rebellion. We must for- 
get their generous zeal, and the great pro- 
vocations that prompted to any excess tliey 
may Imvc committed, and while we exag- 
gerate the one, we must overlook the other. 
We must not recall rebel atrocities, assas- 
sinations of unarmed citizen.s, the slaughter 
and starvation of prisoners, the burning of 
houses, towns, Court Houses, fairgrounds. 
«fec., but pass that over. All this we must 
be required to do and ynust do when we join 
that })arty. We must fetch and carry for it, 
thankful for a smile or a crumb, and be 
ready above all to lick the feet that kick us. 

IDEA.S IIEI.I) UY DKMOCKATS. 

I will speak, then, with your indulgence, 
upon the ideas upon which the Democratic 
party intend to administer the affairs of 
40,000,000 of people, now .soon to be 100,- 
000,000. 

What are their ideas of the rights of men? 
Upon what principles would they build the 
future? The idea of the Democratic party 
is that one man should have the right to 
buy and sell another, that they should have 
the right to buy and sell women and chil- 
dren, to sell the husband away from the 
wife, the child from its mother. Tljeso are 
their ideas, aud they are persecuted men if 
you deny them the exercise of these rights. 
Their idea is that the late enemies of the 
United States in the rebel States are enti- 
tled to exclusive political power and privi- 
leges therein by laws made to secure the 
same, :;nd that you liave established a des- 
poti?m if you require them to be shared 
equally with loyal men. 

With regard to emancipation and recon- 
struction, the party has no equivocjil record. 
It is opposed to these measures, thinks them 
wrong. Now, if the people give tlie party 
power, what will they do for us to correct 



these wrongs ? Will they repeal reconstruc- 
tion, turn out the States, and give the power 
to the rebels therein exclusively? And as to 
emancipation, will they pay us for our slaves, 
or, aa some boast, re-enslave the blacks? 
If their opposition to these/ads is to be made 
effectual and means anything, it means this: 
If they cannot undertake these tasks we 
should not look to that party to save us frpm 
negro suffrage, or to make us compensation 
for our losses. The question is already deci- 
ded without me ; you may say in spite of me. 

if we must join the Democratic party to 
get relief from negro suffrage, it must be be- 
cause we expect them in some way to undo 
what has been done. Some of ns have large 
expectations from the Democratic party in 
the work of reaction. We expect, I believe, 
the public debt to be repudiated. Our 
slaves, too, are pot hopelessly lost. With 
regard to that species of personal property, 
we may perhaps have to realize the expecta- 
tions of a very distinguished gentleman not 
very far from Flemingsburg who, while they 
were rejoicing over the last fall election in 
Ohio, instructed lus friends just to keep still, 
that thej would get their niggers back yet. 

In examining what Union men are to ex- 
pect at the hands of the Democracy, I speak 
not of the finances, though that is a deeply 
interesting subject ; but you and I know that 
here and now we are principally concerned 
in knowing what are the ideas that are to 
govern this present and that great future 
that looms up before us. What shall the 
generations of the future have to thank or 
to curse us for ? What are the principles 
that are in the future to interpret the rights 
of the citizens of the United States? What 
shall become of the declaration of our fathers 
promulgated in 1776, that "All men are 
born free and equal, endowed by their Crea- 
tor with certain inalienable rights" — rights 
which they have no right to part with — the 
basis upon which this Government is to be 
restored and maintained, is the deeply in- 
teresting subject here in Kentucky. 

WILI, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY STAY THE ON- 
WARD MARCH OF TRUTH. AND JUSTICE? 

Now. if we give the Democratic party 
power m this country for the next four years, 
what do they propose to do in that event 
with regard to the rebel States restored to 
' the Government ? If they elect their can- 
didate he will be installed into power in 1869. 
I ask what would be the state of things which 
would confront thorn v/hen they should thus 
attain power. Tliis Union will be restored, 
built up, upon principles of right or wrong, 
as you may believe, but built solidly, com- 
pactly, every State with a constitution, a 
government, Legislature, judicial and exe- 
cutive officers : with Senators and Repre- 



sentatives in Congress, admirted by the 
party governing the nation, and recognized 
and in full operation. With this restoration 
of the Union, for which the }>eople have or- 
ganized so long, completely accomplished ; 
restored, if you please, upon equal riglits to 
all and exclusive privilege to none staring 
them in the face, what will they do^? 

That state of things will meet them in 
1869. It has been, .done ; freedom to the 
black man, and the ballot to guard it, has 
already been given to him in the rebel States- 
He already votes ; he already makes Consti- 
tutions ; he already helps make Cfovecnors, 
Legislators and Congressmen, in ten States of 
the Union. He has done it in Tennessee for 
more than two years. He will do it, theugk 
every man and woman in Kentucky rise up 
and swear he shall not do it. 

Now, when they got into power, will they 
turn these ten States out of the Umoa ? 
Will they get up a counter revolution, and 
turn these Governors out, the Legislatures 
out, and expel from Congress their Senatorc- 
and members? "Will they then pass recon- 
struction bills with suffrage upon a white 
basis, making this a white man's Govern- 
ment instead of a Government of the Lord 
God of Heaven for all men? Will they do 
it? I put it to Democrats not only in Kea- 
tucky, but I put it to Democrats in the 
North. These people who call themselves 
Democrats in Kentucky are ready for any- 
thing. If an opportunity presented itself, 
they would fight again for the Confederacy 
and for slavery. But I put it to the Demo- 
crats of the whole counti-y. If my feeble 
voice could reach them I would appeal to 
them (some of them I know are patriotic 
and worthy men.) Will you break up this 
Union thus built up, because you do not 
like the manner in which it has been built 
up? Will you break it nj^jiiot'to enlarge 
the rights of viankmd, not to establish the 
doctrine made possible b>/ the roar, that one 
class of men have no right to rule another 
class of men, not to declare that all men are 
created free and eqnal, bid to go back over 
the dreary ivaste of tJiccicUioar, to the worn 
Old shams of the past? Noic, a party en- 
gaged in this business of pulling down Con- 
stiiutinns and expelling States would be la- 
boring not to extend suffrage, bid to restrict 
it; not to strengthen the bonds of the Union, 
but to put the 2')olitical power of these States 
in the Jiands of the enemies (f the Union. 
You would not do it to afford the soldi 0X3 
who fought the battles of the Union the 
means of protection, or to give them power 
to hold in check those who fought against it? 
Now, if these are the issues upon which this 
campaign is to be fought, let them _writ.e it 
in the platform, malce their nominaiions 
upon it, and put it fairly before the people. 



I have proclaimed, and yet proclaim, that 
when this Union i.s restored I shall accecit 
the work whether I like it or not j but surely 
[ shall never be so untrue to the American 
idea as to make war upon a restored Union 
because it is too liberal and democratic. 
Rather, with ample faith in the American 
people, and genuine love toward them, go 
tx> work and build upon whatever ground is 
given us to build upou. I will never embark 
with any party in a revolution to break up 
the restored Union. 

Therefore, my frien'la and feUow-citiz<>ns, 
when General Grant in his letter of accept- 
ance — although modest, noble, and wortny 
of him — says " let us have peace," this sen- 
tence is full of pregnant meaning ; it means 
that the acceptance and protection of a re- 
stored Union founded on that broad basis of 
equal rights to all and exclusive privileges to 
none, is the only means and hope of peace. 

Why, then, should I and the Union men 
of Kentucky embark our fortunes with the 
Demc>cratic party of Kentucky, or their al- 
lies elsewhere, who would restrict the ba^sis 
of suffrage in the ten States, and give exclu- 
sive political power to gentlemen in the 
vS«uth who, for thirty years, ruled the coun- 
try only to betray and ruin it? Do I wish 
the restoration of that party in the South 
which built up a despotic public sentiment: 
that repressed all freedom of thought and 
speech and every generous emotion com- 
mon to the heart of mankind, and kept our 
society crystalized in forms that belonged to 
the far past; that made the interests of the 
white masses subordinate to the institution 
of slavery ; a party that persecuted every lib- 
eral statesman. North and South — men like 
Henry Clay, for instance — because they were 
not willing to repress their love of freedom. 

Do we want that Democratic leadership 
back here again, to go through the scenes 



brethren everywhere throughout the State ; 
turned them out of office ; put Confederates 
over them, and only because they were Con- 
federates. They rojected and overslaughed 
Union men in the Democratic party of Ken- 
tucky: were Conservativo? — Conservative 
enougn. Heaven knows. The only stain 
upon thoir record was, they had been for the 
war against rebellion ; this, their chief hon- 
or, marred all their fortunes. 

Day by day we have seen Unionism under 
the persecutions of this party decline, 'ill 
now it is much reproach to have stood for 
our Government. We could bear it for ouf- 
selves; O Union men. but we have friends 
fallen in the great battle, and for their sakes. 
since they were dear to us, we would haye 
their cause forever honorable. I had some, 
laid low by criminal brothers' hands, that I 
must lament even with my heart. They rise 
up before me now ; I sec them as once 1 saw 
them instinct with life, walking with fronts 
erect in our midst — but, no, 1 shall never 
again see them. They have fallen with their 
faces to Heaven and theij- feet to the foe, in 
the great battle for Liberty and Union, one 
and inseparable, now and forever. I cannot 
therefore see any duty which calls me to the 
Democratic ranks — all that is vrithin me per- 
suades me otherwise. 

I have broken long since with the party 
which does not acknowledge Union sympa- 
thies. I q_uit it for the National Union Ke- 
publican party, and .shall vote for my school- 
mate, the soldier of the Union. Gen. Grant, 
and for Schuyler Colfax, whom I never did 
vote for when I had the opportunity; I quit it 
to stand upon the Declaration of Indepen 
dence ; I quit it to help give to every man 
in the country the .same privileges under the 
law claimed for myself. 

I was opposed in part to the great work, 
and it was done without my con.sent and 



Tfre have gone through? Ah! forsake such ojaj^s^ my con.=ent. At last I opened my 
a thought. The Southern leaders and their eyes to the magnitude of the work and the 



ideas belonged to the past. We cannot call 
them back. Shall we tight against Jehovah, 
the Lord of Hosts, whose words arc down on 
U6, saying, " I will rule. If you will help me. 
well and good; if not, without you."' Shall 
I do it ? No ; I have hal my mind made up 
distinctly for two y?ar.s that I would not do 
it, that I was wrong in trying to persuade 
myself it was my duty to do it. I know no 
useful function the Democratic party can 
perform, except to disband — or advance. 

EXPERIENCE IV THE DE.MOCBATIC P.VRTV. 

I have had a little experience f . all 
have had,) and it opened my eyes, i ii . or- 
ganization is against us. Union men. We 
are not of it. Try it, you will know it at 
last. It will use you, humiliate you and 
throw you aside. It has oersecuted our 



facts before me. Will you condescend to do 
that, my friends? Will you lay aside pas- 
sion and prejudice and reason one with an- 
other? Will you look at all that has hap- 
pened in this country? Do you suppose 
God Almighty meant nothing by such a con- 
flict as we have passed through? All that 
great fermentation of ideas that resulted in 
war and baptized our land in blood — did it 
mean nothing? Has it done nothing? Are 
we where we started ? We arc fo-dai/ a ihmi- 
sand 1/cars away from the arje that preceded 
the war. The child scarce able yet to syllable 
its mother tongue was born uncler the old or- 
derof things, andwhich he icillnerer see again- 

TUB CON"STITCTIOVAJ. AMENDMENT. 

But I come now to an affair that con- 
cerns us as citizens of Kentnokv chiefly. 



We have proceeded from the thirteenth 
Constitutional amendment abolishing slav- 
ery, to the fourteenth amendment. It is 
now a fixed and certain thing that there 
is no escape from the fourteenth Constitu- 
tional amendment. If it has not already been 
adopted by States enough to, make it a part 
of our CoHstitution, itwillbeinafewweeks, 
perhaps in a few days. The Senate is just 
now about to pass what is called the Omni- 
bus bill, which admits six Southern States 
to representation in the Union, which, with 
Arkansas and Tennessee, making eight. — 
These States are required by the law recog- 
nizing them to ratify the fourteenth amend- 
ment ; and it therefore will be the law of the 
la>nd after the lapse of a few weeks. 

This great measure equalizes the power of 
ihevoter in all the States, declares sacred the 
o-b ligations ofthe nation created in its defense; 
prohibits the payment of the rebel debt and 
compensation for emancipat-ed slaves, and 
establishes the equality of citizenship by birth 
and naturalization. Let us examine into its 
effect upon the representation of the States. 
The number of blacks in the Southern 
States in 18G0 was about 4,000,000. Let us 
say that the war has kept that population 
stationai7. We will staxt with a basis in 
387p of 480,000 blacks. This will not be at 
their former rate of increase, as the blacks 
do not thrive as fast in freedom as in slavery. 
By a comparison of statistics, we find that 
their increase in the future can not be put 
at more than fifteen per cent, in ten years, 
instead of twenty-three per cent., the rate 
of increase in ten years previous to the war. 
So in 1900, we would have about 6,500,000 
blacks in the South, all represented save in 
Kentucky. We had in Kentucky, in 1800, 
29«,000, which will give us in 1900 about 
364.000. The ratio of the number of blacks 
in Kentucky, in my opinion, increases in- 
stead of diminishes, as they come in from 
other States. 

Let us, gentlemen, be a little candid. Is 
not universal suffrage already here ? Is there 
any power on the face of the globe that can 
roll it bask ? Does not.the tide set that way 
all over the world? The African in ten 
Slates holds the ballot; it would be just as 
easy to enslave him again as to take the bal- 
lot away from him. What party will under- 
take the work? 

Whyu})useme? These are the facts— I 
did not make them ; I cannot claim amy 
j)art of the credit the world awards the doers. 
Mine only be the modest merit that recog- 
nizes the work when done, and comprehends, 
:n part, its magniiude, and the high mean- 
ing it symbolizes. 

A RESOLUTION IX EAVOR OP TUE POOR. 

I t«lie it for granted therefore, my fellow- j 



citizens, that whatever party comes into 
power in 1869, the basis of representation ot 
these States has been permanently changed. 
The importance of being fully represented 
according to the weight of our population in 
that Congress which declares war, makes 
peace, levies enormous taxes, and disposes 
of the great business of the nation will ad- 
dress itself with force to the minds and con- 
sciences of reflecting prudent men every- 
where in the State. Whoever can show a 
hope for a different state of things for the 
future, (if he dare call it a hope, ) would have 
hoped on at the Deluge after all the world 
was in the sea. Let us take comfort ; the 
revolution that has occurred means peace 
and progress, because it means Liberty and 
Justice. It is not a revolution in favor ofthe 
patrician or privilege of the strong and 
powerful, the rich and titled, but in fkvor oi 
the poor, the humble and the ignorant ; the 
veriest poor and ignorant of oui- people 
— God s poor. 

1 have long sought of the best men and 
minds I know in our State, an answer to the 
question— how arc the States filled with a 
large black population, to take that people 
out ot the hands and away from the i'nfiu- 
ence of outside peoples, and make them 
friends of the State for peace and for war ? 
I get no answer. Southern statesmanship 
IS afraid and silent. There is but one answer; 
give the black man every reason for lovinq 
the Commonwealth, the mother of m aU 
that any other citizen has, and he mil vote 
her ticket and fight ho- battles. 

But now? Why little South Carolina has 
three-fafths of her people for a foe that looks 
beyond her brother for friends, hope and 
protection. Slie's but a bogus Common- 
wealth while this lasts, paralyzed in peace 
and war. Why, the rebels were fools to get 
up a rebellion before they had made friends 
with nearly half their people. If they ever 
wish to rebel hereafter, they must first get 
the black man on their side. In their brave 
but utterly stupid struggle for independence, 
they had over four millions of enemies in 
their midst. They saw their assailants usinjr 
this element, and still had not the wit or 
courage to emancipate and arm them. It said 
some of their captains saw the necessity and 
called for the measure. But the petty poli- 
ticians of Richmond, dwarfed in the presence 
of events too great for them, could not «ee 
It, and so went down under the blows'^of 
Grant, clinging to the rags of slavery. The 
lesson was not new. States that do not rest 
on a united people must fall. The ten 
States already have peace on the negro ques- 
tions. He is a voter, in numbers sufficient 
to command respect. The political parties, 
under a necessity to win the voter's favor 
quitcalhngeach other Abolitionists, and only 



stnTeto con^'ince I he black man of. the in- 
terest they alicai/s took in his welfare. Ne- 
groes make good Deiaocratic delegates in 
Tennessee, and the party (though beaten) 
was very proud of a few thousand black 
votes ol)tamed in the recent Georgia elec- 
tions. Orcat id the black man in the eyes 
of the Democrats in Georgia and Tennessee, 
when found in the ranks cf his party. 

• RBGEXEKATEO KEBEI.". 

And, my friends, the rebels never will be 
converted until the day .«hall come when they 
>hall have to ask the black man to help 
them to get into office. When that time 
comes the rebellion will be over, be- 
cause it will be unpopular, and men 
aspiring for office will keep in the back- 
ground, the fact that they served the lost 
(.ause. They will then do what others are 
now doing who were engaged in tliis work ; 
confe.i9 their faults and ask forgiveness. 
When that day comes 1 trust it will not be 
so difficult for a man to perceive the value 
and magnitude of the truth, that he should 
be williug to allow every other man the same 
privilegoi he claims for himself, however 
nigh or low, rich or poor, that man may be, 
of whatever race or color ; Jiot to perceive 
thatotlier truth, that a State which deals out 
impartial justice is alone truly prosperous 
and bccun — that such a State then can have 
ixo enemy in the Ijosom of its society, and is 
equally secure against foreign enemies or 
domestic treason. 

But it is said there are other reasons why a 
Union man in Kentucky cannot ally himself 
with the National Un'ou ilepul)lican party 
and support Gen. Grant for the Presidency. 
Because, in fact, they are Radicals in favor 
of radicahneasures, and Union men mustjoin 
the Democratic party to put down Radicals. 

Talk about voting down Radicalism ! — 
Gentlemen, Radicalism is the greatest suc- 
cess of modern times. It fought the biggest 
iiattles. took more prisoners, subdued the 
bravest men and the greatest numl)ers of 
them, that was over done in any.ngo or coun- 
try. \'» iih a bankrupt, Treasury, inherited 
from its opponents, itlcnew how to raise not 
less than six or seven thousand millions of 
dollars, and fought a rebellion to its death, 
with nearly half the country in revolt against 
It, after every defeat rising in unshaken faith 
that Almighty (iod ruled the destiny of the 
United Stiites to higher issues ; (hey raised 
urmit^s of millionsof men: and while meeting 
with defeat after defeat, embarrassed \>y op- 
position at home and mocked by the rulers and 
nobles of Europe, its courage rose still higher, 
to the day of complete victory. V/hile the 
struggle raged, it emancipated 5,000,000 of 
people, calHng a race to lilb and liberty— 
a fac» that will be luminous while the mem 



cry of the race remains among men. Do 
you think this Radicalism couldue scared by 
the eternal devil? When Hannibal, after 
Cannae, encamped at the gates of the city, 
the Romans put up for sale in the forum the 
ground under their feet : So the men who con- 
quered the rebellion, wliilo it was yet exult- 
ing over the defeat of Bull Run, opened the 
Trea?ury andbuiltupthc Capitol, higherand 
broad«r, for the future Cengressofthe Union. 
'•'With charity for all and, malice toward 
none, with faith in the right as God gives to 
see the right,'" let us go on with this Union 
cause ; let us keep tlie standard of our 
faith full high advanced, marching under it 
with confidence while carried in the hands 
of its greatest Captain. Let us not desert 
that cause and run after that cold and bar- 
ren feast to which the Democratic party has 
invited us. This political organization, like 
the institution of slavery, is worn out and 
broken in pieces. 

TRfTH TO I'UOOKES.S. 

We are to advance to newer and better 
issues. A true Democratic party will always 
be respected in the eyes of the lovers of the 
people, because the lovers of the people rev- 
erence God the Father of the people ; that 
God who makes no distinction between 
them. When they come to His heaven, re- 
deemed by the blood of His Son, who died 
for all, it will not matter whether they were 
white or Idack, or to what race they be- 
longed. They will be good enough for God. 

This Government of our.s has held out to 
the world the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence, that all men are born free and 
equal. But you know how fashionable it 
had become, in latter times, to say this birth- 
right belonged only to white men. It was 
oven fashionable in some places to read it 
'' all white men." etc. But our fathers meant 
by it all men. In Europe it is all men born 
of certain familie.s that have the right to 
freedom and equality. For the Englishman 
it is the Queen who derives her right from 
God to govern the nation, and transmits it to 
her children : next to her, it is the nobles ; 
ne.vt to the nobles, some fellow who has 
made a fortune selling soap and tar, and who 
is only ambitious (like Edmund About's 
Frenchman) to m-arry his daughter into a 
family that has done no work for four hun- 
dred years. The idea is held, there, that 
the mass of mankind are too ignorant to en- 
joy the right of suffrage. But the true 
American idea is that suffrage is not the due 
of intelligence ; not the due of race, wealth, 
Sec-, but knowing no practical test by which 
wo can confine it to the virtuous and intelli- 
gent alone, thatitisthedueof all the people- 
The masses of mankind are what might 
be called ignorant, they have no "book 
I larnin," they have not been to college, a 



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013 786 528 2 S 



great many cannot read and write ; but the 
masses of majikind, however ignorant, loye 
their country, work for it, fight for it, die for 
it. They are as true to-day as the intelligent 
portions of the commnnity. Intelligence 
alone is not a sufficient security for the per- 
son that casts tlie ballot. Lucifer was not 
wanting in intelligence} he was the brightest 
of the sons of God, and he rebelled. Jeff. 
Davis and Breckinridge were not wanting in 
intelligence, and they committed treason 
against their countiy and against mankind. 
Tfiose things which will govern best in 
every land, are virtue aJid intelligence; but 
tJiere is no plan by which you can secure 
tJiem unless you let every person vote, save 
those guilty of crime. Show vie how you 
will get all the viiiue aiul intelligence with- 
out enihracing all tJie people, and I icill give 
up my right to vote. He that loves his coun- 
t»-y, however ignorant, will find out how to 
cote right. If he makes a mistake to-day he 
will correct it to-morrow. To say that where 
equality prevails, virtue and intelligence will 
be less powerful than vice and ignorance, is 
:o say 1 have no faith in God, and to forget 
that God and the race never die; that He 
employs men simply to work out His de- 
signs, consciously or unconsciously, willing 
or unwilling. It forgets, too, that vice has 
no power, except it wears the mask of virtue. 
"Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays 
10 virtue," let us remember. 

FRUITS OF LIBERTY AND UNION IN 1900. 

What are to l»e the fruits which peace, 
born of liberty and justice, shall bear to this 
land when the year I'JOO dawns upon it, we do 
not know at large, but only in part perceive. 

There then will be in this.broad land of 
ours, according to the progress ehown by the 
census of the past, luO,UOa,000 of people. 
Some 7,000,000 of these people will be 
blacks. This vast population are to occupy 
this country from the Atlantic shore to the 
Pacific. They are. to be the foremost people 
on the face of the globe, gi-eater in real pop- 
elation, greater in wealth, greater in the 
magnitude and number of their cities, in the 
number and extent of their farms, and in 
agricultural improvements, in manufactures 
and commarce ; in all material signs of pro- 
gress anil power tlian any nation of the past. 
So much for material progress. But what of 
the spiritual progress of so great and rich a 
people, all free^ and equal, under laws formed 
by the spirit ot justice, sustained by the con- 
sent of all ? It would require the inspiration 
and the tongue of St. John to draw that pic- 
ture. This black race which will have grown 
to 7,000,000, will have relatively decreased ; 
instead of being in the proportion of four or 
five miliions in 40,000,000, as now, they will 
have decreased to ^,000,000 in 100,000,000. 



But a few generations will show that the supe- 
rior capacity of the white race will grow it 
out as surely as the blue grass under your feet 
grows out " the trefoil clover. " 

All that is needed to ensure this result is 
peace, liberty and justice, under a govern- 
ment administered with economy. 

Under the operation of these principles, 
there can be no disfranchised class. Th-e e 
men engaged in rebellion constitute a class, g 
Sooner or later every rebel must have the 
same privileges under the laws granted to 
all others. Yes these privileges must be ex- 
tended even to those who took part in the 
rebellion. It should not, cannot be long 
withheld from them. 

A HEAVY CONTRACT. 

The work of putting down the Radical par- 
ty which, it is said can be done by our join- 
ing the Democratic party, is a very large con- 
tract. This Radical party cruslied a Radital 
rebellion — the greatest piece of Radicalism 
I know anything of — which but for Rad- 
icalism would have broken up our country, 
stopped her progress and carried us back 
again to the ideas of the feudal ages. V/hile 
this Radicalism was putting down this rebel- 
lion, it finished the Capitol, reared its dome 
to the .skies, and placed upon it the .statue cf 
Liberty, all golden this day with the beams 
of this June sun. When that year 1900 shall 
dawn, other wings with other domes perhaps 
still grander, will have been added to accom- 
modate the Congress of these United States. 

I believe that future generations, who en- 
joy these blessings cf liberty and equality 
in that day, will look back with pride upon 
those who stood by the Government of the 
United StJ'tesin these days of trial and chief 
among soldier braves they will single out for 
praise Ulysses S. Grant. Ourlove toward the 
whole people, and our faith in the Father cf 
men impels us to the standard of the Union. 
The success of the principles it represents is 
not doubtful. 

They may not triumph to-day, nor in Ken- 
tucky, but to-morrow and elsewhere, and 
here at last, they will triumph. Truth has 
all the years of God :o fight her battles. 
And the battle once begun, "though baffled 
oft, is ever won."' Though you and I may 
not live to see the perfect day of liberty and 
ju.stice, hope and work; for the one, it is 
said, is simply faith in God ; and the other, 
worship. What though tee die, humanity 
will survive while the earth lasts ; the indi- 
vidual perishes, but the race is immortal. 
But in this present contest we have n cause 
and a leader hitherto triumphant. We do 
not doubt but that the banner which Grant 
now bears will be carried to final victoi'y in 
November, secm-ing to 'as and to our pos- 
terity a lasting peace. 



PEINTBD AT THE OflKAT RRPCBUC OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



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III I III iillii ill II. 
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